Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) Occupation
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, is better known by his pen name of Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist, some of his most famous works are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin. He grew up in Missouri, which gave him his setting for these novels. He is often considered to be the greatest humorist of the age and one of the fathers of American literature. Part of his life, before he was a writer, he was a boat pilot on the Mississippi river. He then failed at gold mining before he turned to journalism. This was when he found his calling for writing. He was a powerful writer and public speaker who became friends of many powerful people. Position on Annexation
Until 1899 Mark Twain was a strong supporter of imperialism, but his viewpoints drastically changed in the opposite direction. He became the vice-president of the American Anti-Imperialist League, who was against the annexation of the Philippines. He discussed his viewpoints on the annexation of the Philippines in his publication To the Person Sitting in the Darkness. He stated that America should not even be fighting the war in the Philippines because there was no reason for the start of it. He said that we seemed as though we were being American with what we did at first promising to give them freedom and to lead them to being their own government, like America did in Cuba. However in the Philippines America acted very European by trying to take over rather than helping set them up and then leaving like was thought to happen. In other writings about the Philippines, notably Mark Twain, The Greatest American Humorist and Mark Twain, an Anti-imperialist, New York Herald, Twain says similar topics of not knowing why America was taking part in such European acts as they were in the Philippines by constantly trying to take the nation and not help them become their own like they said they would. Interest in the Topic
Twain’s main interest in the issue was that he was against the European like actions of trying to imperialize the Philippines, when they said they would do the American like thing of helping the nation to become independent and help them to be free from other nation, like what was done in Cuba. He also held the interest against the annexation of the Philippines because of his position in the American Anti-Imperialist League. References "Mark Twain on Imperialism." History Wiz. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://www.historywiz.com/primarysources/marktwain-imperialism.htm>. "Mark Twain." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain>. Twain, Mark, and Jim Zwick. Mark Twain's Weapons of Satire: Anti-imperialist Writings on the Philippine-American War. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse UP, 1992. Print. Twain, Mark. "To the Person Sitting in the Darkness." Mark Twain and Imperialism: HistoryWiz. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://www.historywiz.com/primarysources/marktwain-darkness.htm>.
Occupation
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, is better known by his pen name of Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist, some of his most famous works are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin. He grew up in Missouri, which gave him his setting for these novels. He is often considered to be the greatest humorist of the age and one of the fathers of American literature. Part of his life, before he was a writer, he was a boat pilot on the Mississippi river. He then failed at gold mining before he turned to journalism. This was when he found his calling for writing. He was a powerful writer and public speaker who became friends of many powerful people.
Position on Annexation
Until 1899 Mark Twain was a strong supporter of imperialism, but his viewpoints drastically changed in the opposite direction. He became the vice-president of the American Anti-Imperialist League, who was against the annexation of the Philippines. He discussed his viewpoints on the annexation of the Philippines in his publication To the Person Sitting in the Darkness. He stated that America should not even be fighting the war in the Philippines because there was no reason for the start of it. He said that we seemed as though we were being American with what we did at first promising to give them freedom and to lead them to being their own government, like America did in Cuba. However in the Philippines America acted very European by trying to take over rather than helping set them up and then leaving like was thought to happen. In other writings about the Philippines, notably Mark Twain, The Greatest American Humorist and Mark Twain, an Anti-imperialist, New York Herald, Twain says similar topics of not knowing why America was taking part in such European acts as they were in the Philippines by constantly trying to take the nation and not help them become their own like they said they would.
Interest in the Topic
Twain’s main interest in the issue was that he was against the European like actions of trying to imperialize the Philippines, when they said they would do the American like thing of helping the nation to become independent and help them to be free from other nation, like what was done in Cuba. He also held the interest against the annexation of the Philippines because of his position in the American Anti-Imperialist League.
References
"Mark Twain on Imperialism." History Wiz. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://www.historywiz.com/primarysources/marktwain-imperialism.htm>.
"Mark Twain." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain>.
Twain, Mark, and Jim Zwick. Mark Twain's Weapons of Satire: Anti-imperialist Writings on the Philippine-American War. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse UP, 1992. Print.
Twain, Mark. "To the Person Sitting in the Darkness." Mark Twain and Imperialism: HistoryWiz. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://www.historywiz.com/primarysources/marktwain-darkness.htm>.